Why we serve: From African refugee to US soldier [Image 6 of 10]

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, AFGHANISTAN

06.13.2012

Spc. Alfred Kollie is a petroleum supply specialist serving with E Company, Task Force Wolfpack, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, on Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan. Kollie emigrated to the United States from west Africa, where he spent much of his life in a refugee camp escaping civil war in his home country of Liberia. "Five years ago to this day, I was still in a refugee camp, and I didn't know where the first meal was going to come from," said Kollie. "I want to establish a family in the United States. I want them to live a better life than what I lived, because my entire youth was taken away through hardship."